Patriots receiver Wes Welker remains on pace to break the NFL records for catches and yards in a season, but he’s not too concerned about how much credit he gets for his incredible year.
Welker deflected the praise when he was asked whether he’d be putting up the same numbers if he had a quarterback other than Tom Brady throwing to him.
“No. There’s no question. There’s no way I would,” Welker said. “I think in my time in Miami I went through four or five quarterbacks and didn’t play as much. Being here, with Tom, in this offense, I am not going to sit here and say I’d have the same numbers. No way.”
The Dolphins obviously never had a quarterback anything like Brady during Welker’s time in Miami, but what really held Welker back in Miami is that the Dolphins never knew what they had in Welker: He only started three games in three seasons.
In New England, Welker has shown that he’s capable of playing well even without Brady throwing to him: He caught 111 passes for 1,165 yards in 2008, when Brady was lost for the season in Week One, so it’s not like Brady deserves all the credit for Welker’s success.
But Welker is certainly at his best when he has Brady passing to him. In fact, Welker and Brady right now might be the best pass-catch combination the league has ever seen. Welker has 45 catches for 740 yards, which puts him on pace for 144 catches and 2,368 yards, both of which would be new NFL records. And Brady has 1,874 passing yards, which puts him on pace for 5,997 on the season, which would also be a new record.
These two guys are pretty good together.